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The causes of the English Civil war are many and complex. The personality of the King is the central issue. The best way to understand it is to look at the armies on the battlefields. The sides are in two distinct camps. One- those that support the King (Cavaliers) and two- those that support Parliament (Roundheads). The war is in reality a contest between those that support King and his belief in the Divine Right to Rule as an absolute monarch and those that believe that democratic rights of people should be addressed through Parliament. It should be noted that many of the Kings supporters would have been part of the established church, whereas many Parliamentarians, including Oliver Cromwell himself were die hard Puritans.

Constitutionally, the wars established the precedent that an English monarch cannot govern without Parliament's consent, although this concept was legally established only with the Glorious Revolution later in the century.

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13y ago

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